So, as of November 13, 2006 at 1:30pm…Daniel and Christy will have been married for 7 blissful years (except for the summer of 2000-see below). As we were driving back home from splurging at Ruth’s Chris for an amazing steak dinner tonight (we go once every year or two) we thought it would be fun to chronicle our life together for the past 7 years.
Here goes:
November 13, 1999- We got married in Yorba Linda, Ca. and went on a short honeymoon to Catalina Island. Daniel could only miss a few days of college, and Christy could only take 2 ½ days off of teaching at Los Angeles Baptist High. (He still got a B- in Brass Techniques because he missed 2 days for his honeymoon! Seriously, Neufeld….)
December 1999- We take a longer honeymoon in Twain Harte, and the double benefit of being in the mountains was that we would be safe from all the destruction of Y2K…Christy was praying something drastic would happen so she would not have to go back to teaching. During the actual change of the millennium, Christy was sleeping on the couch and Daniel was watching old Twilight Zone VHS tapes with his dad.
May 2000- Daniel completes his Junior year at APU and we unsuspectingly agree to lead Innermission—a Summer Small Group (incidentally the same group that we fell in love in 1998 when Christy was leading).
Summer 2000- A disaster for us all. The group was a singing group that traveled to camps, and we spent our first married summer counseling in separate cabins. Not fun. Plus we made some poor people decisions, and it bit us in the butt. Enough said. This is the first time we have even mentioned it since at least 2002. ?
Fall 2000- Daniel begins a fun senior year at APU, and Christy happily enjoys being free from her teaching job. We begin putting together a musical, A Time for Christmas, at San Dimas Wesleyan Church. Christy briefly substitute teaches (and I mean briefly) and even more briefly works at Starbucks. On the day before Thanksgiving, we find out that Christy is pregnant. Daniel begins playing piano for Judd Bonner at Covina High School.
Spring 2001- Daniel graduates from APU Magna Cum Laude and we move up to Twain Harte (Daniel’s hometown) the day after graduation. Christy is 7 months pregnant, and also has begun working as a Mary Kay consultant. We move in with Daniel’s parents, and our things are put in storage as we wait for the modular home that his parents helped us buy to arrive on our newly purchased property in Tuolumne, Ca. Daniel starts working at Mother Lode Christian School as K-12 Choir/Band teacher.
Summer 2001- Daniel does Music Camps during the summer, and we move into an efficiency apartment in a friend’s basement in Confidence, Ca. (population 52). Nathaniel is born on July 22 after 30 hours of labor.
Fall 2001- Daniel teaches at Mother Lode, and Christy plays piano for Choir and helps with the Kids Choir. She eventually begins directing her first Kids Musical, Little Drummer Boy. In December, we finally move into our new house. Daniel is also on staff at Sierra Bible Church as the Music Director.
Spring 2002- Daniel decides that he hates teaching and living so far away from the artist culture, and we begin to fast and pray about God’s direction for our future. When the school year is up- Daniel resigns, and jobless, begins to chronicle his Seinfeld episodes on VHS. With the aid of an Entertainment Weekly with the name of every episode of Seinfeld, Daniel creates multiple databases for his Seinfeld tapes. These were nullified when Seinfeld was released on DVD a year ago (one tear).
Summer 2002- We go for an interview at Midway Baptist Church in San Diego. We were actually just planning on enjoying it as a vacation, and Daniel had another interview in Nebraska that he was flying to the day after. Nathaniel takes his first steps while we are there, we find a really cool 4 Bedroom house. In our week interviewing there, we absolutely fell in love with the people, and when Pastor Baize offered Daniel the job (after asking at least three times when we had been baptized and saved—hahaha) we tell him we can start in ten days. Sept 5th (the day after my dad’s birthday, and the day my brother’s kid was born in Twain Harte) we move to San Diego.
Fall 2002- Daniel switches to Apple. Perhaps the most significant change of his entire life.
Winter 2002- We start building at Midway the most successful and fruitful music ministry we’ve had to date. Daniel hires brass to play for the Christmas show and begins friendship and working relationship with Chris Marsden and 1st Call Entertainment. I miss that guy…Mike moves in with us in San Diego and sleeps next door to Nathaniel, who cries periodically throughout the night. Mike wasn’t very happy about that…
Spring 2003- Christy takes over Kids Choir at Midway and performs Jailhouse Rock (“the gates unlocked ‘cause we were leaning on The Rock” *clap*). We start our small group and meet Luis. We still miss those guys.
Summer 2003- Christy ruins her ankle for life when seven months pregnant. Christy delivers Noah in a brace…hahaha. Nathaniel begins a torrid love affair with his now ex-girlfriend Ryli.
Fall 2004- We move from Saugerties address to 15th street. We get acquainted with what has now been dubbed “The intersection of hell” where Vons and Starbucks is, on Palm/Saturn. I HATE that intersection. We had to go through that intersection several times a day. I can’t tell you how many “alternate routes” we had…None of them worked…
Winter 2004- We build the biggest stage ever for yet another show of “A Time for Christmas”. We suckered Chuck into playing the romantic singing lead opposite Christy. I work with him endlessly on his solo “It’s a Busy Christmas Eve” as sweat drips from every pore of his body. He really sweats a lot when he’s uncomfortable. The choir raises $2500 to run a 30-second commercial on STAR 100.7 (the biggest radio station in SD at the time). The show was a tremendous success, despite our inability to make the curtain work.
Spring 2005- Easter brings “Alive Forever” on Sunday morning during both services. This sets the stage for the best worship times we ever experienced during our employ at Midway. Frank P—a professional trumpet player—plays with us during that morning. Frank continues to play with the orchestra after that and recruits several other players to play regularly with us. Later Frank would be the reason the orchestra grew to over 20 people that played every Sunday. We get DVR…
Fall 2005- We prayerfully decide that after 3+ years of trying in San Diego, that Daniel needed to go back to school in LA for a Masters in Commercial Music. CSULA is one of only two or three schools in the US that offer such a program. October 31st—Noah is diagnosed with moderate Autism. Our world is rocked, and changed forever.
December 2005- Midway Praise Choir and Orchestra (now 60 singers and 25 orchestra) perform at community events all over San Diego. The final Christmas concert held on the church premises was by far the best musical event I’ve ever experienced in my life. It was truly magical and memorable. December 31st we move to a tiny apartment in West Covina in the pouring rain—still jobless and ready to start school on January 3rd.
February 2006- We lead worship for the last time at Midway, making way for their new worship leader, Aaron C. Turner. Aaron arrives the same day we leave, leaving virtually no gap in leadership…
March 2006- Daniel finally gets a job at APU as Articulation Administrator. Noah’s therapy with Sunny Days begins as we begin the endless fight for a better program. Nathaniel drives Christy crazy with his constant yammering.
Summer 2006- Noah starts the workshop model method of The Lovaas Institute. His hours increase from 15 hours a week to 25 hours. At the end of the summer we move into the clinic method (a better program) and his hours again increase to 33 per week. Nathaniel turns 5.
Fall 2006- Nathaniel starts Kindergarten, God provides a house for us to move into after staying in the apartment for 10 months. Daniel starts a second job as Music Director at Christ-First Baptist Church in Covina, CA after commuting to Yorba Linda Friends Church for 6 months to sing in choir with Al Clifft. Daniel signs contract to arrange/orchestrate/direct a 40-minute show in Irvine for Concordia University. Christy starts her Masters program at APU for basically free (because of Daniel’s employment). Daniel discovers a new talent for commercial songwriting—something he thought he’d never be able to do.
November 12, 2006- We consume large quantities of red meat at our favorite place to eat (no really, this is the only time Daniel eats steak—EVER). We reminisce on the way home and spend an inordinate amount of time on this blog entry that none of you have made it through anyways…
